1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates generally to electrophotographic printers and more particularly to positioning features and electrical contacts for a replaceable unit of an electrophotographic image forming device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to reduce the premature replacement of components traditionally housed within a toner cartridge for an image forming device, toner cartridge manufacturers have begun to separate components having a longer life from those having a shorter life into separate replaceable units. The image forming device's main toner supply, which is consumed relatively quickly, is provided in a large reservoir in a first replaceable unit, which may be referred to as a toner cartridge. Relatively longer life components are provided in one or more additional replaceable units. For example, the developer roll, toner adder roll, doctor blade and a relatively small reservoir of toner (in the case of a single component development image forming device) or the magnetic roll and a relatively small reservoir containing a mix of toner and magnetic carrier beads (in the case of a dual component development image forming device) may be provided in a second replaceable unit, which may be referred to as a developer unit. The photoconductive drum, charge roll and cleaner blade/roll may be provided in a third replaceable unit, which may be referred to as a photoconductor unit. Alternatively, the developer unit and photoconductor unit may be joined in a single replaceable unit. This configuration allows replenishment of the image forming device's toner supply without replacing the developer unit or photoconductor unit. This configuration also allows the developer unit and the photoconductor unit to be repaired or replaced independent of the image forming device's main toner supply.
It is important that the replaceable units are precisely aligned within the image forming device for proper operation. The requirement for precise alignment must be balanced with the need to permit a user to easily load and unload the replaceable units into and out of the image forming device.